Preparing graduates for a multibillion-dollar industry
Each year, bright, dazzling contemporary styles compete with swimsuits and gothic ballroom gowns as media spotlights shine on New York Fashion Week runways.
And Albright College fashion students and alumni are there.
Planning for the college’s main Fifth Avenue event, about 50 students stand backstage for the first time — among racks of carefully hung dresses, rows of hair and makeup stations and industry professionals, taking direction from fashion event expert Scott French, Albright class of 1985.
Jonathan Otero, class of 2020, is ecstatic. His designs will be shown to international media this evening alongside the work of several other Albright alumni and students.
“We’re trying to stay calm right now because of the rush and everything — it doesn’t feel real,” he says. “This is everything we worked for in undergrad, just dreaming and hoping and wishing that one day we’re showing at New York Fashion Week — and we’re here. So, this is it.”
Meanwhile, Sarah Kim, class of 2024, is finishing strong at Albright, where she has continued to nurture her passion for garment formation and theatrical costumes. For Kim, the New York Fashion Week showcase is akin to a live portfolio, accentuated with bright overhead lights and upbeat music.
“It’s really exciting to see the things that you’ve spent a large portion of your year creating as a final product, all together,” she says.
Albright’s award-winning fashion program prepares students for a wide range of careers in a multifaceted, multibillion-dollar industry. As a result, its graduates work around the world as designers, celebrity stylists, influencers, production executives and more. Their employers include the likes of Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and Swarovski Crystal, to name a few. Many have gone on to start their own thriving businesses.
At Albright, students are immersed in fashion from the very first day, working side by side with faculty mentors.
“Our professors at Albright are all so amazing and they have a lot to give,” says Olivia Connor, class of 2018.
In addition to separate programs in costume design, design and merchandising, fashion design and fashion merchandising, students also take advantage of Albright’s co-major program, combining fashion with another area of study, such as business, computer science, communications — even environmental studies.
In fact, nearly half of Albright students take advantage of the college’s distinctive co-major programs, which enable students to cross or combine different programs, without taking longer to graduate.
Between strong academics and its proud designation as the sole undergraduate college whose students and alumni unveiled designs on New York Fashion Week runways over the last two years, Albright has earned recent accolades. The college has earned a top fashion design school ranking by Fashion-Schools.org (#27 nationally) and a top three placement for Pennsylvania fashion design schools by College Factual.
Be sure to follow along as more Albright student and alumni designs are slated to hit the 2023 New York Fashion Week runway this September.
